I was discussing a book with a friend a while back and recommended that they read it. A few weeks later I was surprised that when I asked if they had read the book they said “yes it was fantastic”. They also went on to tell me that they downloaded the audio book to “read” it.

I was taken aback and my brain automatically thought “well that’s not really reading is it that’s listening”. You need to understand something. I have always read important books because I write all over them and draw all over them so that I can remember what was said. That means that books to me are a great way to learn and remember. I really couldn’t let this feeling go thinking about how they are missing out on notes and the benefits of having a book with writing all in it you can reference back to. Then it hit me. Everyone learns differently and we all need to continue to develop our learning skills so that we can learn as much as we can as fast as we can. Books and notes are a very traditional medium and we have moved way past that now. I started to asses my learning style to see if it was antiquated and how I could tweek it.

Here’s the result. I have decided to go through a new business book I am interested in in a new way to see how it goes and I will report back. I am going to download the audio book so I can try this medium. While listening to the audio book I am going to stand in front of my whiteboard and take notes. I am then going to take pictures of my whiteboard notes as I go and upload them to Evernote which then makes my handwriting searchable.

I think this will be an enjoyable experament and I will report back on how well or poorly it goes for me when I am done. It pays to rethink your ways. Assess your life and see where you might have antiquated ideas and reinvent yourself. If you don’t you are not moving forward.